Angels losing sleep
by runaway-run
Summary: "He opened the jar of strawberry jam that he was holding and he dipped his fingers in. Since he was alone, he needed sugar to concentrate. He had to focus on the task at hand - how to escape L Lawliet." What if L caught B before he was able to carry out the murders?
1. Prologue

I started writing this story a few years ago and I recently re-read the few chapters I have written so far, I thought I'd share and see if people enjoy reading it.

I love B and L and I've always wondered what would have happened if L had found B before he could carry out the murders… here it goes.

 **Disclaimer:** I don't own Death Note or I'd be a damn genius.

 **Prologue**

Beyond Birthday looked around. Perfect. Some peace at last. He really needed it.

He'd never believed that things could change so drastically in only a few weeks' time. Seattle. Portland. San Francisco. Las Vegas. And finally… Los Angeles.

He laughed, not amused in the slightest. He had to carry out the perfect crime, that nobody would ever be able to solve. Nobody - not even the world's greatest detective. So he had wandered, restless, around the West Coast of the United States, getting closer and closer to California, though he wasn't sure why. But in all those TV series it looked like heaven on earth, with its crystal clear ocean, the wonderful climate and almost nonexistent rain.

But Beyond Birthday definitely wasn't the Californian type. He should have known that he would end up hating that State. Too sunny, too American.

A positive thing had happened though: he had finally managed to lay out the final part of his plan. He only needed to choose the victims and that was the most boring part - yes, it was certainly a brilliant plan, no, amazing, in every single detail. He was sure that L would not have caught any shut eye as he tried to figure it out. Not that he used to sleep a lot, he'd been told, but he was confident that he would cause him serious distress for the first time in his life.

Then… before he could carry out the first murder… he'd been screwed. He had no idea how that had worked out, but he'd been found. Had L imagined what was about to happen? No, how could he… He was the world's top detective, alright, but he didn't have supernatural powers. And anyway, if he had been able to imagine it, he definitely wouldn't have wanted to meet B. He wouldn't have brought him over and insisted that he stayed. _Insisted_ was really an euphemism: L had forbidden him to leave and he was constantly observing him, usually having him stay in the same room while he worked on his cases. At first he had handcuffed him to a piece of furniture, so that he wouldn't try anything, but he had eventually decided that it wasn't necessary - even though he wanted him to remain seated in front of him, at a short distance.

Beyond Birthday needed his space, though, and so he'd asked L to be left alone at least for a few hours. That's where he was - locked in a room in the dark, a completely empty room, except for the bed. He felt much more at ease without the presence of another person always close. He hated to have people around all the time, it was another of the reasons why he'd left the orphanage a long time before.

He didn't have good memories of the place… not many. He had grown up there after his parents had passed away shortly one after the other, but he had never bonded with anybody - not because he was withdrawn or arrogant, it was seemingly the other children that tried to avoid him. They used to say he was weird… because of something that happened shortly after his arrival at Wammy's House.

 _"Hey, come here!"_

 _"What?"_

 _"Look what B's done!"_

 _He was surrounded. He could feel the kids staring even without raising his gaze. And he was busy anyway…_

 _"What is going on?" A deeper voice than the rest. "B! What have you done?"_

 _The voice sounded worried. No - frightened._

 _B finally looked up and saw Mr. Wammy. Watari, as everybody used to address him, was staring at him as if he'd never seen him before, as if he were a vagabond who had managed to infiltrate the precious orphanage, resolved to spoil everything contained inside. "I only wanted to see… what was underneath."_

 _B's left arm was copiously bleeding, but he seemed not to be in pain, or at the very least he managed to appear unconcerned in front of everybody else. He seemed to think that all that blood that was dripping on the grass and on his shoes wasn't anything out of the ordinary._

 _B smiled to Watari. "I didn't do anything wrong."_

Beyond Birthday grinned at the memory. It was true, he hadn't done anything wrong after all… he hadn't hurt another kid… the body was his, he could do whatever he wanted with it.

He knelt down in the usual pose that he'd started adopting since he'd left the orphanage, L's stance, the posture that he'd finally be able to observe personally ten days earlier, when he was brought before him.

Then, he opened the jar of strawberry jam that he was holding and he dipped his fingers in. Since he was alone, he needed sugar to concentrate. He had to focus on the task at hand - how to escape L Lawliet.

* * *

I would love to hear what you think! :)


	2. Thoughts

Thank you for your reviews and for following, guys! I know the prologue was short and this chapter isn't much longer but at least L shows up :) I hope you enjoy it!

Oh, something I forgot to mention: since English isn't my first language I hope you won't mind my mistakes, but of course point them out if you want so I can improve. Thank you!

 **Disclaimer: as if I would actually own Death Note...**

 **Thoughts**

L Lawliet was sitting in his usual stance, knees brought to his chest, back hunched over. He was looking at the table in front of him, where Watari had just left a piece of cake and hot tea.

He brought his thumb to his lips. He needed to ponder… on the best thing for him and for B. He knew that for the moment B needed to stay with him, it was the wisest decision. But what about the future? Could he trust Beyond Birthday and set him free?

Slowly, he took the cup and sipped the tea. It didn't taste as good as usual. He added five sugar cubes.

B was locked in a room a few meters away- probably trying to figure out how to escape and vanish without a trace. There was a 70% chance. L was sure that he wouldn't try anything for a while, first he needed to gather his ideas and make a flawless plan if he wished to be certain that he wouldn't be tracked down once again.

L had talked to him, at first a bit reluctant to show himself, but then persuaded that it wouldn't make much of a difference: B wouldn't hire a hit man to kill him and, in the very unlikely possibility that he would, the killer definitely would never find L. He was much too good for that.

Only ten days had gone by since their first meeting...

 _L entered the darkened room, lit only by the light of the moon. Beyond Birthday was there, handcuffed to the leg of a heavy piece of furniture, so that he couldn't free himself in any way, and he was kneeling in a pose very similar to his own. He was wearing jeans and a t-shirt and his ruffled hair was almost as messy as L's._

 _If L were a regular folk, he'd shiver as he took in the youngest's appearance - ascertaining just how much the young man sitting nearby tried to resemble him. From what he knew, B was only a couple years younger than him, so he was probably around 20._

 _"I am L," he muttered, in his usual bored tone. It worked. B raised his head and L could finally see his face._

 _The room was gloomy, after he'd been brought over B had insisted in staying in the darkness and L couldn't see any valid reason to refuse. But when he saw his face he was tempted to turn on the light, to examine him and verify just how much he looked like him. Because, right then, he thought he could have passed for his brother, if not even his twin._

 _"I am B," was the simple reply that came from the young dark haired man. Then he coldly smiled. He seemed to know something that L was unaware of._

 _"Beyond Birthday... I suppose it will be impossible to get you arrested, since I stopped you before you could pull off any kind of crime," L began, also kneeling down nearby. It was almost as if he was in front of a mirror. L brought his thumb to his lips and started nibbling on it._

 _"L… who says I meant to commit a crime?"_

 _L didn't reply. He didn't have any intention to explain anything to him. He didn't want B to understand his logic. Whoever picked up on the way the other's mind worked first would lose._

 _"I would like some jam," B added._

 _As a matter of fact, since he'd been brought there that morning, B had yet to eat anything and it was then nine PM. L was hungry, too, so he asked Watari to bring some jam and ice cream for himself._

 _B ignored the bread and cutlery and dipped his fingers inside the jar. L observed him grimace and comment: "Apricot jam, it's not really my favorite…"_

 _They ate silently, each of them intent on studying the other, each of them aware of the attention. Although L knew that B was trying to look nonchalant. "Beyond Birthday-"_

 _"My name is B," he cut him off._

 _"B. I would like to know why…" he intended to say_ Why do you copy me?, _but he tried to soften the sentence. "Why do you imitate me?"_

 _B waited to finish his jam before replying (he'd complained about the taste but, apparently, it wasn't that awful, or maybe he really was that hungry). Beyond Birthday laughed coldly. "Figure it out yourself, great detective."_

Afterwards, he hadn't been able to get anything out of him. Since then, Beyond Birthday had wanted to be addressed as 'B', had only eaten jam and kept quiet, as he observed L work on some case. L wasn't used to having people around, other than Watari, so he wasn't able to focus fully and in the past few days he had solved 5% fewer cases than usual.

Then, that Monday morning, B had asked to be left alone and L had realized that - despite being alone once again in front of his computer - he still couldn't concentrate, knowing that the younger man was locked in a room nearby, concocting who knows what trick. Not that he would be able to pull off anything…

L had come to the point of wondering if B wasn't a relative of his. The physical resemblance was striking. Same height, same build (though B looked even a bit skinnier than him, it was worrisome), same big dark eyes… almost identical features. It was hard to tell them apart. B's hair was a bit shorter than his and his eye bags weren't as pronounced, but as for the rest - it was as if L was in the proximity of his evil twin…

 _That's nonsense._ L got up and headed toward the closed door. He listened, not sure why… surely B wouldn't start talking to himself out loud.

He lingered by the door for a couple of minutes before fishing the key out of his right pocket and opening the door.

The sudden light hit B as if someone had slapped him. He read, for the umpteenth time lately, L's full name and his life span. He snickered. Not even the great detective could escape death.

L thought he'd seen a strange glow in B's eyes but he decided it must have been a trick played by the light. Then, without reflecting, almost automatically, he sat beside B and asked him a question that caught him completely off guard. "I think it is right to use your intelligence while you are stuck here. Would you tell me your opinion on one particular case?"

B stayed silent as he tried to rationalize what was going on. L… the great L… wanted his opinion on a case?

He wanted his… help?

L persevered. "After all, you're getting bored, aren't you? To date, you're the student that scored the highest marks in the tests at Wammy's House, after me. I think we would both benefit from working on this case together."

Initially B felt a surge of anger. _The student with the highest marks_ _ **after**_ _him._ Then pride took over. Finally, the desire to prove that B could be superior. He could solve the case that L wanted to show him. "I will help, on one condition."

L waited for him to go on.

"…I want more jam."

L's eyes widened.

"…strawberry jam, this time."

* * *

 _Hopefully I managed to keep both L and B in character. Let me know what you think!_


End file.
